Amazon Prime show “The Grand Tour” is racking up millions of views online — but they’re not all the kind its makers seek.
The first episode alone of the adventure show for car enthusiasts has been illegally downloaded an estimated 7.9 million times, according piracy tracking firm Muso (via The Daily Mail).
Muso says “The Grand Tour” is now the most illegally downloaded show in history.
The show revolves around longtime British broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson in what’s been billed as a major career comeback. What makes the problem worse is the show’s massive $201 million budget — nearly $13 million of that being Clarkson’s annual pay check for the show, according to the British newspaper.
Losses to Amazon are estimated at more than $4 million for the show’s first episode alone, according to the media outlet.
The second episode has also been of the keen interest among online pirates who ripped the show 6.4 million times, Muso reports. The third episode has been snatched up by online pirates 4.6 million times.
Viewers in Britain are the top offenders, making up 13.7 percent, the firm says.
It’s “absolutely incredible,” said Muso’s chief commercial officer Chris Elkins. “It is the most illegally downloaded program ever. It is off the scale in terms of volume… It has overtaken every big show, including ‘Game Of Thrones.’”
The show started airing on Amazon Prime on Nov. 18.
Amazon ushered in “The Grand Tour” with a massive marketing campaign, presumably spending millions in advertising.
The show hired Clarkson after he was let go from the BBC in a public row over a dispute with a producer.
The show was intended as big incentive to get people to sign up for Amazon Prime’s streaming service, which costs £79 a year in British pounds and $99 in the U.S..
In spite of the illegal downloads, Amazon says the show “has become the biggest show premiere ever on Amazon Prime Video, breaking records around the world.”